Women Want in on Tour of Missouri

By CAROLYN SZCZEPANSKI

Kelly Benjamin in action.

When the organizers of the Tour of Missouri announced in July that the six-day cycling spectacle would add a female event, few metro residents were happier than Kelly Benjamin. After all, the Kansas City native is one of the top-ranked women in professional cycling, and there’s nothing better than elevating the female circuit on your home turf.

But just a few weeks before the Women’s Criterium was set to race around the Plaza, it looked like the event might be a wash. Many of the women didn’t have the money in their team budgets to make the trip to the Show-Me State.

That is, until some local riders opened their own checkbooks to make sure the female athletes got a chance to compete.